Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption, Foster & Kinship Care

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.
Question: My husband and I finalized our adoption in December 2025, and we’re still waiting for our son’s birth certificate in the mail. Then we’ll need to take it to file for an SSN and wait for that to arrive. How can we file taxes, including our newborn baby, without a Social Security Number for him? (We didn’t know we could file for a temporary number with the IRS until it was too late - after his finalization hearing).
Resources:
The 2025 Adoption Tax Credit (podcast)
The Annual Adoption Tax Credit Guide: 2025 Edition
IRS.gov: Adoption taxpayer identification number
Support the show
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.
Do you worry about what is normal in your child’s sexual development? Join us to talk with Roy Van Tassell, a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oklahoma and Director of Trauma and Evidence-based Interventions for Centene Health. He co-chairs the National Child Traumatic Stress Networks’ subcommittee on children with problem sexual behaviors.
Warning: We will be using anatomically correct words and talking about sex, so if this offends you or triggers you, you may want to skip this podcast.
In this episode, we discuss:
Typical Sexual Development / PlayWhat is typical sexual development in children as they age?
What type of sexual play is considered “normal?”
How should parents manage a child’s natural sexual development?

Problematic Sexual BehaviorWhat are Problem Sexual Behaviors in Children?
What causes kids and youth to act in socially unacceptable or destructive sexual ways? What factors influence the development of these behaviors?

Child vulnerabilitiesBehavior problems
Emotional difficulties
Developmental delays
Low impulse control

Family vulnerabilitiesPoor supervision
Single caregiver

Modeling of coercionHarsh parenting practices
Physical abuse
Domestic violence

Modeling of sexualitySexual abuse
Modeling/exposure
Nudity or poor family boundaries

How common are problematic sexual behaviors?
Suggestions for professionals and parents and how to respond to behaviors.
What should parents and caregivers do?
Rules for younger kids
How effective is therapy?
How to find a therapist?What training have they had in this area?
Child development expertise (including sexual development)

ResourcesTaking Action booklets (two booklets) – for children with problematic sexual behaviors (age 12 and younger) and one for 13+
Resources at the National Center on Sexual Behavior of Youth – really good resources for caregivers and parents.
National Center for Exploited Children—for kids to understand safety—teaching them safety skills to protect their own body
Amaze.org—videos for children
National Child Traumatic Stress NetworkA.J.’s Story— A Book About Not OK Touches

Support the show
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.
Question: As a single mom, how do I find good role models for my kids?
Resources:
Finding Male Role Models for Kids of Single Moms
Creating a Support Network as a Single Adoptive Foster or Kinship Parent
1 Yes, 4 S's: How a Post-Adoption Support Group Changed My Life
Support the show
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.
Are you raising a child with known prenatal exposure to alcohol? Does your child have a diagnosis for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder? Listen to this conversation with Barb Clark, Founder and CEO of FASD Mosaic. She offers coaching, training, and consulting on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), trauma, neurodivergence, and challenging behaviors, and is the author of Raising Kids and Teens with FASD: Advice and Strategies to Help Your Family to Thrive!
In this episode, we discuss:
In your experience, what do caregivers most misunderstand about FASD at first?”
How does prenatal alcohol exposure impact brain development?
What is the difference between FAS and FASD?
Do the timing, frequency, and amount of alcohol all matter in the outcomes experienced by the child? Are there other factors at play?
Why is FASD still so often missed or misunderstood?
Primary neurological impacts on a child who has FASD
Secondary behaviors – which, when viewed through that brain-based lens, are adaptive responses that help them process and cope with their environment
What are a few practical strategies parents and caregivers can implement to help them reframe how they support their child with FASD?
Tantrums or raging as an example of challenging behaviors – how it may look differently across these ages and developmental levels
What are a few of the typical strengths seen in individuals with FASD?
Why do these strengths often emerge inconsistently?
How our home environment and culture set a child with FASD up for success
Can you offer practical suggestions for how parents or caregivers would implement a strengths-based approach to raising a child with FASD?
Practical strategies that parents and caregivers can implement right away when raising their child with FASD
How do you recommend a parent or caregiver handle the process of repair and reconnection with a child with FASD? 
What should parents and caregivers consider in planning for the future?
Prioritizing self-care and reframing it as interdependence and community care.
Resources:
Prenatal Substance Exposure Workshops for Parents
Prenatal Substance Exposure resource page
FASD Mosaic
Support the show
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.
This is a second question from a listener named Tabitha who adopted a baby boy last year. Tho the adoption looked like it might be at least semi-open, it's effectively closed for now because the baby's birth mom is no longer communicating even with the agency. 
Question: All our training spoke to the benefits of open adoption. We also know (our baby) has two older siblings living with grandparents. There is also a toddler-aged sibling who was adopted. Like us, first mom is in her early 40s, so she’s got life experience. How do we handle questions that arise when baby G is older, with so little info? We seem to be a rarity in this day and age, with a closed adoption not of our choosing. I definitely respect mom’s choices, but I know questions will pop up on our little one’s end down the road.
Resources:
Strategies for Maintaining Sibling Connections
Helping Siblings Separated by Adoption or Foster Care - Weekend Wisdom
Handling Social Media & Birth Family Contact with Your Adopted, Foster, or Kinship Kids
Support the show
Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:
Weekly podcasts
Weekly articles/blog posts
Resource pages on all aspects of family building